Speeches by Davies.

“So it is effectively coming from the Home Office grant or contract amount that you are given, but you are branding it as grants to local community groups, is that right? Caroline O’Connor: The total value is £4.4 million, so it exceeded the value of the surplus on the contract.”

“Thank you. Going back to what you just said about the grant giving and so forth, does that come from the contract value or does it come from the corporate social responsibility operation of the charity? In other words, is the Home Office in effect paying for those grants that you are giving? Caroline O’Connor: It is a …”

“I refer to my interest as an honorary vice-president at the Local Government Association. Going back a step to the £338 million value of the contract, how much of that is management fees? Caroline O’Connor: I will need to come back to you on the split.[1]”

“Okay, call centre. Caroline O’Connor: That is absolutely critical. The national service in the initial accommodation is important because it delivers consistency in ASF1 forms, and CoC forms—so what is submitted to the Home Office to process. That process would slow down if the quality was not monitored and controlled …”

“Which parts would you say could not be covered in that assertion? Caroline O’Connor: First, a national helpline support, because clients move on all over the country and so they lose continuity.”

“Would you agree with the Minister that effectively you have a role to provide support, but a much more localised approach to this would be better for everyone concerned? Caroline O’Connor: For some of the support.”

“Finally from me, we hear from local governments, local NHS partnership organisations and GPs, that there is not enough resource for them. When you are referring people and flagging people, the money effectively stops at that point. Is there not an argument that some of this money should be broken up and diverted to the…”

“Do you think that there is a tension here? Given the increase in scale and the longevity of this asylum crisis, you are effectively part of the answer, but you should not be the centre piece of it, costing taxpayers £338 million. Do you think the money would be better used localising services, potentially linking into …”

“Do you have any views about the Home Office’s role and approach around accommodation; any views on what should change, what could be better in that respect? Caroline O’Connor: Some of the large-site approaches have not been effective. When Alex Fraser was here, he spoke about how large sites might be suitable for a ver…”

“We have heard quite a bit about the KPIs. The Committee and I have heard there is an almost bizarre incentive in the system that if you move people through very quickly on a phone call, regardless of the quality of advice that you gave, your KPIs would be better than they are at the moment, and there is a tension there…”

“Given the significant growth in demand, are there areas of your activity that you feel, if it was narrowed or removed altogether, you would provide a better overall service overall? Caroline O’Connor: I think if the move-on service was removed—what we do is very light touch—and the AMLOs pick up that piece, it is a goo…”

“Are there any areas of your work that you would like to see expanded? For example, are there areas or gaps that you think you should be able to step into? Caroline O’Connor: Interestingly, one of the gaps is with move on, but I think the AMLOs are doing an excellent job with that, so I would not recommend that we move …”

“I welcome the statement and the launch of the review. I recently held a dads’ drop-in event supported by the Dad Shift, where I heard from dads about examples of excellent employers doing the right thing, but also frustrations among the self-employed and those who run small and medium-sized enterprises about how comple…”

“Let me first praise and pay tribute to survivors across the country, and draw attention again to the survivors who worked in Telford along with me and various organisations to carry out the local review. We did so because the then Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, and the then local government Minister, the right hon. Member…”

“Who was delivering accommodation. We have heard about the prime contracts, we have heard about the subcontracting relationships—we have heard about the whole spaghetti of provision. In terms of the viewpoint from the Home Office, did you know who was providing the accommodation up and down the country?”

“I appreciate that. Mr Ridley?”

“Yes, indeed.”

“Very good. Minister and Mr Ridley, what do you think it does to public confidence when you have private sector providers who sit in front of a Home Affairs Select Committee and basically say that they have tens of millions of pounds in profit excess that they want to pay back to the Home Office, but the Home Office has…”

“You will keep the Home Affairs Select Committee updated as part of that process—in particular, if there are any material changes to what the 2021 review found?”

“Are the people doing the second review the same people who did the first review, in terms of organisation?”